This Is The End, If You Want It
by Idiot Jello
Summary: Z/K After seeing the Ember Island Players, Zuko and Katara sort out their priorities. "She struggles to remember her hatred; it slips away from her along with all the anger she harbored. And in that spot inside herself she had previously dedicated to despising him, something new is blossoming."
1. Melting prints of grass and snow

_And I did not mean to shout, just drive_

_Just get us out, dead or alive_

_A road too long to mention, lord, it's something to see_

_Laid down by the good intentions paving company_

* * *

The smell of surf invades her nostrils; her toes made imprints in the sand. The air isn't nearly as humid as it is during the day, instead pleasantly warm on her bare shoulders and stomach. She recognizes the curve of Princess Yue's smile in the waxing crescent moon above her head, and she spreads her arms, reaching out and dipping her awareness in her element. She relishes in the possibility all around her; she cherishes the push and pull that is her constant companion, almost like a heartbeat. It's reassurance – the possibility. The knowledge that she could mold a thousand and one things from the water, the fact that she could mend any injury adversity sent her way.

The water gives her weapons and bandages and flight and life. It soothes her when everyone else has gone abed. She can do anything and defeat anyone and heal all wounds.

It's almost like the fairy tales her mother used to tell her during the blizzards, comforting lies to hold her upright, unattainable ideals to strive for.

(_The water weaves around itself, forming an intricate pattern; a lattice above the sea.)_

Katara misses her mother. Her mother had always known what to say. She would have known what to say now, at this moment.

But her mother is not here. There is no one here, no one but Katara and the ocean and the fireflies blinking in the distance.

(_The decoration morphs and collapses into one long stream that moves and circles in the air.)_

She feels silly for feeling so alone when there are five perfectly good people to keep her company and cheer her up back at the house. But she can't help it – because there is this immense dread growing inside of her and gathering in the back of her throat. She hates feeling helpless; hates how she watched idly by as a mockery of her friends were incinerated as an audience cheered. She tells herself that that's not going to happen, that she simply _will not allow it to happen_, but she can't ignore an ugly voice inside of her. A voice that hisses and insists:

You can't save them all. You'll panic and freeze up and someone, someone will get hurt because of you.

Or, she thinks bitterly, you'll run away, and your cowardice will only make it stronger and stronger. It'll grow into something you can't ignore anymore, but can't handle.

Katara exhales shakily, hot tears prickling the corners of her eyes. She had hurt Aang. She had damaged him when before she had promised that she would let nothing ever, ever wound him. All those times, all those awkward moments where she stubbornly remained quiet were now coming back to haunt her in the worst way. She should have talked to him. She should have not let it get so out of hand, out of her control.

_(In contrast, the water is very much in her control as she goes through the standard forms she first learned only a few months ago.)_

And now Aang thinks he is entitled to her; he seems to think she owes him something. Something more than an explanation of her feelings. He thinks she owes him kisses and embraces and grand declarations.

How is she supposed tell him that he had got it all wrong? How is she supposed to describe the responsibility she feels for him; how she never wants him to be unhappy and will do anything to keep him safe? How is she supposed to express how he had taught her how to have fun; how he had been the key to unlocking her bending and her confidence and an entire world of possibility? How is she to let him know that she loves him so, so much, but never in the way he wants her to?

Katara misses the simplicity of days gone by, those sun-kissed memories of koi fish and orange autumn leaves and coasting gliders. But now Aang's soured everything now with his unwelcome kisses and assumptions.

The worst thing is that she still hasn't confronted it. She hasn't yet set it straight. The urge to do nothing, to give in and just will it go away is so tempting.

(_A few droplets escape; she doesn't notice.)_

But she can't. It's too late now. He's already hurting. She's already failed from saving him from herself.

This is her breaking point; a frustrated cry escapes her. The water she has been bending splashes uselessly into the sea, foaming and cresting. She falls to her knees, her spine curls. Her hands meet her face, shielding them.

This is how Zuko finds her a few minutes later. One moment she is alone, the next there is a warm hand on her back and a concerned boy crouching at her side. She ceases her crying immediately and hastily wipes the evidence from her cheeks.

"I'm sorry for bothering you," Zuko says, "but you kind of looked like you needed to be bothered."  
His voice has a roughness about it – like the crumble of scorched paper. It used to frighten her, but now she almost finds it comforting. It reminds her of camp fires and long talks into the night and…tea.

"Thanks," she says_. Her _voice is thick with tears. She sounds young and stupid and upset and she hates it. She hates feeling weak like this, especially in front of him.

There's a presence by her temple and she instinctively whips her head up. Zuko's fingers flood her vision. They hesitate for a moment before trailing down her face, sweeping across her cheek and barely brushing the corner of her mouth. Katara watches their course and goes a bit cross-eyed in the process. Zuko withdraws his hand and that is when Katara finally looks at him. He's blushing and shamefaced, but manages to meet her gaze.

"Do you want to talk about it?" he asks quietly.

This is the way it is between the two of them now. When before she had barely tolerated his presence and he was tense and pensive around her, they have evolved into the sort of people who sit together on beaches and tell each other things. Distrust has mutated into secret-telling, resentment has givenway into a mutual respect. She struggles to remember her hatred; it slips away from her along with all the anger she harbored. And in that spot inside herself she had previously dedicated to despising him, something new is blossoming.

Something unsure and frightening yet oh so genuine and she doesn't know what to do with it. She isn't sure how to trust it.

Katara considers brushing him off and insisting that she's fine (_like she always does_) but decides against it. She reminds herself that he's already seen the ugliest parts of her and hadn't judged her. It won't hurt to entrust him with this part of herself, either. He's already told her about his mother and his uncle and his father and his cousin and it's only fair to let go of something of hers. The only thing he hasn't told her about is his scar, but really, she's not so sure she's ready to learn about that yet.

And so she braces herself, tugging her arms around her knees and closing her eyes.

"It's Aang. When I went to talk to him during the second intermission, he asked me why we weren't together."

"Not…?"

"Yes. Like, romantically together."

"Oh."

She opens her eyes and casts him a sidelong look. He is watching her apprehensively, seemingly unsure of what to say.

"Then he kissed me—" Zuko's eyes widen at that, "—and I ran away pretty quickly after that."

Katara sighs, lowering her head. "It just," she says into her knees, "he never asks me how I feel about things. He just kisses me out of the blue like it's okay. Like whether or not I like him that way or not shouldn't even be a question."

She closes her eyes in frustration. "I don't know how to tell him that I just don't feel that way about him. Because it's going to crush him and he really doesn't need that now. He needs all the confidence he can get before the comet. And if I tell him – he might, he might…He might run off. He does that, sometimes."

"Wait, he just abandons you sometimes?"

Katara lifts her head to nod. "Yeah. He flew off on his own after we lost Appa. We were in the middle of the Earth Kingdom desert." She opens her eyes and sees Zuko bristling. "Don't be mad, he's just a kid."

"I know that!" Zuko snaps. She glares at him and his expression softens. "Believe me, I know. It just that he has a responsibility to the world. It's one thing to blow off twenty fire squats in his morning training and another thing entirely to abandon you guys in the desert."

"Calm down. We were fine. Master waterbender, remember?"

"Master waterbender in a _desert_," he says pointedly.

It's her turn to bristle. "Yeah, whatever," Katara says, gesticulating a bit angrily. "The point is Aang is just a kid, and so is Toph and Sokka's my brother. It's my job to protect them. And so I don't blame Aang for running away once in a while. He's got the whole world resting on his shoulders."

"Besides," she says after a moment, "he always comes back."

"But what if—"

She crumples; tears are welling up again. "Stop! Whatever it is, just stop it! I don't need it. I am perfectly fine on my own, thank you very much. I can solve this whole thing with Aang on my own. God, I should have never told you, why did I think you could—"

She stops shouting when she glimpses the look on his face.

Fuck. She can't handle this. Oh spirits, what has she done? Wasn't she just resolving to trust him?

Katara struggles to her feet and is almost all the way upright when his hand finds her forearm and tugs her back down into the sand. He pulls her into an embrace, his arms wrapping around her shoulders. Her head is squished into his shoulder, and she can feel his shirt dampening at the place under her face.

"_I'm sorry_," he whispers into her ear, "I'm sorry I'm so bad at this. I'm trying – I'm trying to listen. I know you don't need me. You're know you're capable and a master waterbender and everything. But I'm not like you. I'm bad at saying the right things."

She brings her hands up to hug him back and gives him a squeeze. "Stop apologizing. I'm the one who should be sorry. I'm new to this, too, you know. I'm not used to just telling people things. I'm not used to trusting—"

"Me?" he questions softly.

"Anyone. Not this completely." She pulls away a bit to look in him the eye. "You're the first person who I told the whole story about my mother, you know. You're the first person who's seen – you were there when I –"

She takes a deep breath.

"You're the first person who's seen the worst of me and stuck around for more and I'm not sure how to react to that. It's never happened before. I've…never let it happen before."

It slowly dawns on Katara that this is the closest they've ever been to each other. His eyes are wide – nervous, possibly? She is too. Her breath is coming quicker than usual. She finds her gaze lured to his mouth. His lips are parted ever so slightly, and—

She withdraws from his embrace, shifting away from him before she does anything rash. This isn't the time for this. They're at _war_.

But, Tui and La – she _wants _to think about that. She wants to pretend that she's just a girl living in a fancy house by the beach with her five best friends and has the time to think about boys and kissing and everything normal girls think about.

But she doesn't have the luxury of normalcy or time. Instead, Katara focuses on Zuko's breath, the quiet and steady sounds of inhalation and exhalation. It tugs at something inside her.

It's a different feeling from the protectiveness she feels about Aang. She feels responsible for the life of the boy with the tattoos. His life is hers to defend.

It's a different feeling from the protectiveness she feels about Toph and Sokk and Suki. She knows that they are all capable, that they can take care of themselves. She has faith in them. But they are family, and she always takes care of her family.

This feeling about Zuko is selfish. Her desire for his safety seems entwined in some other desire. He won't die until Katara sorts out this overwhelming feeling. He just _can't_ die when she feels so much. How dare he die and leave her all on her own?

(_She remembers the panicked look in his eyes as he fell helplessly from the airship, and how she pulled him to safety because there was no way he was dying on her when she was still so mad at him.)_

No, he has to stay around. She simply won't allow anything otherwise.

0000

He asks her what she plans to do about Aang. She sighs a little. _Nothing, I guess_, she admits. Her hair falls around her shoulders, obscuring his view of her expression. Zuko feels the urge to claim a lock and play with it – or maybe grasp her hand, but quickly dismisses this as a Bad Idea.

He's been playing a game of sorts since he joined the Avatar. Having challenged himself to stop being so impulsive and actually think his actions through, he is sure to label everything he does as a Good or Bad Idea before he does anything.

Securing the morning training session with the Avatar? Good Idea. Rise with the sun and all that.

Indulging Toph in whatever tyrannical punishment she saw fit for burning his feet? Good Idea. It had been her way of getting him to pay attention to her and he found that she was the most accepting of him in the beginning. She had been willing to try to understand him like the others hadn't been.

Sparring with Sokka? Bad Idea, but somehow a decision he has made again and again. But every single time Sokka manages to get a lucky hit and he has to go crawling to Katara for a healing session.

_(But really it isn't like he complains or anything when she puts her hands on him.)_

Developing feelings for Katara had been the worst idea at all, but it wasn't like he chose to do it. The most embarrassing thing is how everyone seemed to know about it. It's like as soon as he joined this group all of his secrecy and dignity and _privacy_ went out the window. Suki and Toph delighted in teasing him about his fumbling and blushing around her. Even Sokka pulled him a few days after they arrived at Ember Island and basically said: _If it you had been anyone other guy, you'd be _dead_. But since you're kind of cool, I'll let it slide._

At the time Zuko had attempted to point out the illogicality of that statement but was hastily shushed by Sokka.

Zuko had then tried to get the warrior into a headlock and things had quickly escalated and in the end he was faced with an irritated Katara telling him there wasn't much she would do about his black eye except reduce the swelling. She then proceeded to hit Sokka several times over the head.

_(Why are you always injuring him? Just because I'm a healer doesn't mean to have a free pass to beat up on Zuko!)_

He smiles at the memory. The two of them have been sitting in a comfortable since for a few minutes now. Katara still looks despondent. He searches for something to say to her – or, something to _do_ for her. After all, he had won her trust with actions rather than apologies.

"I could talk to Aang, if you want," he offers.

She looks up sharply at him, her hair swishing. "_No_!" She says emphatically, almost chuckling at the absurdity of it.

He swallows. "Sorry," Zuko says quickly.

Katara stares at him for a moment, and then grins. She's so beautiful. He's reminded painfully of the almost kiss earlier. "Thanks for the offer," she says, "but I'm just going to ignore _it_."

'It' obviously being her code word for the kiss between her and Aang.

"Aang has too much on his plate right now," Katara continues, "I'll talk to him about it later. But right now, you and I are going to have some tea."

Zuko nods and stays close beside her as they walk back to the house. He decides not to mention the very real possibility that there might not _be_ a later for them.

Really, he doesn't blame Katara for backing down. It stills hurts, though. Because there's a very real possibility he will die in a few short weeks and can she blame him for wanting to claim some happiness before then?

But how could he do that to her? Make her care for him and then die on her? No, that's impossible. Katara is right. It's better to just see this war through and try to survive, try to protect the ones you love.

She must know how he feels, anyway. He's so obvious about it. The thought reassures him. Even if he won't _(can't)_ say it, she must know. And that's enough.

After their tea they do the dishes together. He flicks a soap bubble at her and she splashes him, not with her bending – just a normal manipulation of water. There's a small splashing fight which Katara wins by threatening to drown him. It ends with the two of them grinning stupidly at each other, and Zuko wondering where this girl has _been_ all his life.

Her blue, blue eyes laugh at him and he knows he'll die to save her, if he has to. Her life is so important. Her life is _more_ important. Because she is so good, and he is not. Really, what has he done to this world except try to kill its last hope for peace? But Katara is another story. She makes everything better. She made _him_ better. She just has to live.

And she _will _live. He'll make sure of it.

* * *

**A/N: Just gonna say here that this took forever to work out, but I've just gone and posted it now so I focus on later parts. Yep, that's right. This will be a three or four-shot, I think. **

**Stayed tuned, because later we will see the Last Agni Kai, Mai's return, and much more. **

**In other words, I am rewriting canon with my wily Zutarian ways. **


	2. Interlude

**A Toph and Aang**** Interlude**_  
_

* * *

_Just like the wind takes the leaf from the tree_

_You always know how to dismantle me_

_And your sweet persuasion is making me weak_

_And that's a comment not a compliment_

* * *

Maybe it's because Toph hadn't been around when this Zuko guy was the Big Bad, but she really doesn't get why everyone is so upset by him. Aang is still here, isn't he? So Zuko couldn't have been _too_ successful in his "capture the Avatar" business.

Toph doesn't see the point in dwelling on the past. It's right now that matters, so they should be judging Zuko on what he says right now. Plus, she can tell that he's being sincere with her own feet. She believes him. _(Even if he did burn her feet.)_

But what is really interesting is how Sparky's pretty little firebender heart reacts every time Katara's around. At first Toph had chalked it up to general anxiety about joining the group, but upon further inspection his heartbeat goes haywire whenever Katara does _anything._

That is _fishy_. Like, deep fried Unagi on stick with salmon-flavored fireflakes fishy.

0000

The morning after is quiet and deceptively calm. Aang awakens to the sweet sound of bird song outside of his window. He sits up, trying to catch a glimpse of the little musical creature. All he sees is a quick flutter of wings and then nothing but the endless blue sky. His enthusiasm to see her must have scared her off.

Sighing, he swings his legs over. His bare feet hit cool marble. Getting up, he makes his way to the kitchen where Katara is surely preparing breakfast.

He meets up with Zuko in the hall. He can't help but start a little when he catches sight of the former prince. No one can blame him, right? After all, Zuko had only joined their group last night. Aang doesn't quite trust him yet, but he's going to give Zuko a chance. But he's learned that old habits die hard, and something passes over Zuko's face. It's gone in an instant.

"Are you ready to begin your firebending training?" Zuko asks gruffly.

Oh. This early?

"Could we have breakfast first?"

For a moment Zuko appears to deny him this meal, and then presumably thinks better of it. He nods, restraint pursing his lips.

They continue to the kitchen. Katara is there, just as Aang thought. Her eyes are closed, and she's humming under her breath as she stirs something in the pot with her bending.

The Avatar and the firebender take a few more steps closer, and that's when the smell hits them. Anng scrunches up his nose; Zuko can't help but let a vaguely disgusted grunt.

They can see that contents of the pot are mushy brown and white mess, with a few unidentifiable globs.

"What _is_ that?"

The humming ceases. Katara's head snaps up. "It's just grain, along with some of the leftover dried fruit we had. Listen, don't stick up your nose because it's all we have and if you hadn't noticed, we're not exactly living the _royal life_."

She shoots Zuko a very pointed look with the last of her words. Aang gasps.

"Couldn't you have picked some berries or something? They're all around these parts, and—"

"Well I'm not a _firenation native_; I don't know what's poisonous and what's not—"

"Don't get all defensive! I was trying to make a suggestion!"

"Unless you're willing to jump down and get the stupid berries yourself, don't make any more 'suggestions.' I have more mouths to feed than ever, and I really don't need your criticism."

Zuko has a retort ready on his lips, but slumps his shoulders instead, defeated. Katara looks down as well, going back to her stirring. Her brow is furrowed, and she bends with sharp movements. Aang has never seen her be so nasty to anyone. He looks uselessly from Zuko and Katara, suddenly aware of the tension between them he had been unaware of thus far.

Aang quietly suggests that maybe he and Zuko could get breakfast later, and start firebending training right now. He agrees, and they walk down to the stone courtyard. They don't speak the whole trip down.

0000

It doesn't make sense in his head. Why would Katara be so hostile to Zuko? While it's not like Zuko has earned any of the group's full trust, they are still willing to give him a chance. At least, most of them.

Katara isn't even going to let him try. She just shuts him down with sour words that Aang hadn't known she was capable of. When he asks her about it, Katara just shakes her head.

"He's firenation, Aang. He's their prince. He hunted us down for months and months. I had to put salves on the burns he caused me before I learned of my healing abilities. He's just – he's no good."

_(He wants to mention that firenation people were just normal people, hurt by the war like everybody else. He wants to mention that Zuko's the banished prince, who then abandoned his throne and country. He wants to mention of all Zuko's sincerity, and the look on his face walking down to the courtyard, the resigned sadness that lingered.)_

It makes Aang uncomfortable to see Katara being so unfair to Zuko; to hear the harsh edge to her voice and the anger bristling in her spine and shaking in her knuckles. It's like the puzzles the nomads gave him as a kid; the pieces slowing coming together to create waterfalls and gliders and treetops. And now it's like someone is shoving a piece in the wrong spot and Aang wants to seize her hand and force her to where she's supposed to be.

_No, you're not supposed to be like this. Katara shouldn't act like this. _

"Katara," Aang says at last, "everyone else is willing to look past all of that and give Zuko a chance. You should too. You're kinder than this. You should find it in your heart to forgive him."

Katara looks at him then, her brow furrowed, slight irritation flashing across her face. In that moment she looks old; like a grown up. Eventually she nods, but Aang is sure she just does it to please him.

0000

Later that night, Toph enters the kitchen in order to corner Katara. Toph can detect the soft splashes of Katara doing the washing up.

"So what's up with you and Zuko?" Toph demands, apropos of nothing.

Katara grunts. "What's _up_? You mean, like what's up besides the fact that he's tried to kill all of us on a regular basis and we're just letting him stay with us and cooking his meals and cleaning his fucking _laundry_?"

"No," says Toph, testily, "what I mean is you're unnecessarily bitchy to him. And you only do that when it's something _personal._"

"Is attempted murder not personal enough for you?"

Katara's voice rises, getting a little shrill. Toph hopes this doesn't turn into another screaming match. Really now, she just asked Katara one simple question. There's no need for all of this.

"_Katara._"

"Toph, it really isn't any of your business!"

Ha. That's funny. Like Katara doesn't make everything _her_ business.

"What happened when you were the crystal catacombs, then, huh?"

There's a clang. From the vibrations, Toph guesses it must have been a plate that Katara has dropped. The water bender sputters, "Why would you even think something happened there –and nothing did!"

"Cause it's the only time you guys were alone, unless you've been _lying_ to us and had some secret love affair in Ba Sing Se."

"Oh, _yeah_, it's all coming back to me now. Yes, my treasured romantic rendezvouses with my most despised enemy."

Sarcasm. Cute.

"Well you wouldn't be reacting this way if there was nothing! Some did happen in the catacombs!" Toph accuses, just going for it. Just to get some reaction out of her.

"Oh spirits help me, Toph, **no**! There's nothing between Zuko and me! Sure, we talked in that cave. Sure, I thought he might have turned good. Well, I was wrong!"

Katara's voice is harsh and cutting. Anger. Toph widens her eyes. She hadn't expected that strong of an emotional reaction.

And with fierce determination Katara says, "I'm not making that mistake again."

Toph's ears perk up – there's a pressure just outside the door. There's feet outside the door, feet like Sokka's but with nimble footsteps like Aang's; a new pair of feet Toph is still getting used to recognizing.

"Heard all of that, Sparky?"

A sheepish firebender ducks through the door. "Not, uh, all of it." His heart rate spikes; Katara must have glared at him.

There's an awkward silence; Katara is saying nothing and Zuko seems reluctant to offer any explanation for his presence.

Finally, he says, "Um , well, I was just wondering if you needed help with the dishes. I can keep you warm."

Toph raises her eyebrows.

"_No_! I mean, I mean, I meant – keep your _water_ warm. Not you."

The poor boy coughs.

"Uh, I'm good. I don't need anything from you," Katara says, her tone turning a bit sour at the end.

Zuko huffs, and says in a pretty convincing imitation of stroppy Katara: "You know, I'm just trying to reconcile—"

"You're wasting your time," Katara declares.

There's a moment of perhaps indecision on Zuko's part before he simply stalks over to the sink and plunges his hand into the dishwater, warming it whether Katara likes it or not.

"Eugh, gross! Now your firenation germs are in my dishwater!"

"It's dishwater! It's already dirty! And my hands are perfectly clean!"

"Oh no, I bet you have soot and crap all over your palms—"

"That's rich, coming from a waterbender. You're always tracking dirt and smelling like wet pigdogs—"

"Did you just call me a bitch?"

"No!"

Eventually Toph has to leave the room, due its distinct lack of maturity. Which for Toph, is saying something.

0000

Aangs watches Katara interact with Zuko over the next weeks, silently scrutinizing them and wishing hopefully for a reconcile. It never comes. Katara is brash and malignant and makes it her personal duty to make Zuko's life as hard as possible. Zuko's response to her hostility ranges from indignation to annoyance to regret.

And yet, they get along. They are periods of near friendship between the two of them. They do the dishes together; he's brings her a moon peach as a peace offering. He makes a terrible joke and she almost smiles.

In one almost tender moment, Zuko admits that he doesn't actually think she smells like a pigdog; a confession which confuses Aang greatly.

It's better than nothing, Aang thinks, and is glad.

0000

And then the time comes where Zuko and Katara leave in the middle of the night, and Katara is angrier than ever. Aang still doesn't understand where this girl came from, how long she has existed inside of the girl he adored. More than anything, he wishes she would go back to who she was before.

The days without Katara or Zuko are leisurely. There is no one to lecture Aang from slacking or Toph from picking her toes. Suki, rather than scolding him, laughs at Sokka's antics. He beams at her happily in return.

When Zuko and Katara come back, everything changes. And Katara steps past Aang and forgives Zuko, finally, officially. He could have never expected what would come next.

0000

Toph thought the antagonism was bad, but the mushy lovey-dovey friendship is _so much worse_. Now whenever they are near each other they are _all aflutter _and standing unnecessarily close to each other and hugging when they think no-one is looking. Seriously, they are fooling _no one_ with this platonic shit.

Even _Sokka_ can see it, which is saying something because he isn't necessarily perceptive when it came to these things. Some bitter string twangs inside her. _(All those times she's hinted and hoped and ignored the welling disappointment.)_

It doesn't matter. Suki is too fucking badass to be jealous of.

0000

Aang can't help but think this whole forgiveness thing backfired on him a little bit. Of course he wants his friends to get along, but now Katara is laughing at Zuko's terrible jokes and smiling and touching him and it just isn't right. In the good old days Katara paid attention to _him _and laughed at _his _jokes and hugged _him _and he saw her first, Zuko has no claim to her at all.

What does she even see in him? He's all no fun and disciplinary and is always being a worry wart and going on about _being inconspicuous _and _being dedicated _and _hard work_.

Maybe she likes him because he is _aloof_. Aang has never gotten the hang of that.

But spirits – they had kissed! That must have meant something! It has to mean something.

_It should, at least_, he thinks, watching them from afar. _(Her hand is on his arm; Zuko's trying not to react.) _

0000

"So, r'you gonna give her a little kiss before the big battle?" Toph says, nodding toward the general direction of Katara.

His heart jumps. "_What?"_

"Isn't that what big soppy romantic guys do when they leave the girl they like?"

"I – _I am not soppy," _his voice sputters endearingly.

"But you like her."

"No! I mean, yes—"

Toph raises her eyebrows. "Yes?"

"Yes, Katara's wonderful, but it's not like that."

"I bet you wish it was like that, though. What, did she shut you down and hurt your prettyboy feelings?"

He doesn't reply immediately.

It's okay. His silence tells enough. She's struck a nerve.

It's only in these moments she wishes she weren't blind. She wishes she could understand, wishes she could judge situations better before she goes and says the very worst thing possible.

She reaches for his hand, fumbling. He takes it.

"No, she didn't."

"Then what—"

"We're not talking about this," he intones firmly.

For once, Toph backs down.

* * *

_**A/N: **_**I am sorry this is so slow going real life is biting me in the butt. But here we flashback a bit and get Toph and Aang's thoughts as Katara's forgiveness of Zuko progresses.**

**Aang is having issues with Katara not complying with his idolized version of her. Toph is poking this situation with a stick just for shits and giggles.**

**Next time Katara's worst fears will be realized and Zuko will throw his Good Idea Bad Idea method out the window.**


End file.
